Unforeseen Oddities
by Afalstein
Summary: Oneshots during Episodes One and Two. NEW: Hypothetical Episode Three one-shot. As the Borealis erupts in explosions, Alyx faces a tough decision.
1. Point Insertion

A/N: I don't think I've written Half Life fictions before, but it's simply too awesome a series to pass up. I need to do at least a one-shot.

* * *

Dabbling with Death

"So, Gordon," Alyx spoke in an easy, conversational tone. "Maybe you can explain this one thing I've never understood about you."

Gordon did not reply, merely squeezed off a few more rounds at the Combine running in the door.

"See," Alyx continued, firing a shot or two herself. "You always do pretty much exactly what you're told." She stopped to reload a second. "That's not bad, I can understand that. You're something of a soldier, you do what you're supposed to."

She thought she saw something of a frown on his face, but continued all the same. "But you do it with this crazy kind of abandon. You run into danger like it's not even there." She gave a disbelieving laugh as the Combine in the doorway staggered, clutched at his throat, and fell. "And people even expect you to! It's like: 'Hey Gordon, the Combine are here, run down this passage to the zombie-infested town.'; 'Hey Gordon, we lost two of our best scientists and they're being held in an impregnable prison camp with all sorts of nightmarish contraptions, could you go get them?' 'Hey, Gordon, there's a couple Stalkers running around out there, could you take care of them?'; 'Hey, Gordon, the Citadel is going to explode, but we need more time, so could you run into there and set the clock back a bit?'"

"That was your idea." Gordon pointed out quietly.

"Okay, yeah, bad example." Nodding, Alyx knelt and picked a rifle from the floor. "But we didn't have much of a choice, and you went with it all the same. I mean, it's not so bad for them and all the others. They think you're a hero, that your suit makes you invincible, all that stuff. But I've seen you, you nearly got beat down by those CP's the first time you came here.'

Again, there was something of a wince on his face, but she had no time to comment, as another wave of Elites came around the corner. The next few moments were a whirlwind of gunfire and grenades.

"So," she said, as they stepped forward over the bodies of the soldiers. "What's the deal? We might think you're a hero, but I don't think you do. And I'm guessing you know you're not invincible."

"It's a little hard to ignore."

"Right." Alyx nodded. "But you always do. You always forget that you're not this absolute juggernaut, and you run right in like death can't touch you."

"This from the lady who fights Antlions for a hobby and tests prototype teleporters." Gordon pushed his glasses up his nose.

Alyx gave him a little punch, rolling her eyes. "Quit it. Anyway, I'm not the one who ran right into a fully occupied Citadel to try and rescue two has-beens like my Dad and me. You're dodging the question. What's up with you that you run around like that?"

There was a moment's silence. They jogged along the hallway and stopped at the corner. Just around, they could hear the garble of radios. Gordon looked over at her and nodded. She picked out a grenade and tossed it around.

The radios suddenly fell silent.

BOOOM!

Gordon turned the corner, peered into the smoke, then looked over at her and nodded. They picked their way through the haze, over the blackened bodies, and made it over to the door. Alyx pulled out her EMP device and was starting to hack into the door network when Gordon answered.

"You of all people," He said, leaning against the wall with a sigh, "should know that after the twentieth time you stare death in the face, it stops looking so scary."

Alyx hadn't actually expected Gordon to answer her question (He rarely replied to anything she said.), so she was rather surprised, but she smiled and nodded. But Gordon wasn't done.

"And," He said, staring off into space in a very distracted manner. "I really don't think he's going to let me die until I've done everything he needs me for." He popped a few more rounds into the shotgun.

That statement was simply too strange to let go. Alyx turned to study the lanky scientist. "Who's 'he'?"

Gordon started, as if surprised from thought, then shrugged. "How should I know?"

Alyx stared at him, completely uncomprehending. "But… Okay, fine. But then how are you so sure about your death? I mean, if you don't even…"

Gordon shrugged, pushed off of the wall, and leveled his shotgun at the door. "Cause if that wasn't the case, I'd have been dead twice already now."

Further comment was interrupted by the manhacks that came streaming through the suddenly open door.

* * *

A/N: Please Review! 


	2. Mutual Friendships

"Izzy, could you lay off those charts for just a moment and get over here?" Eli cast a glance over his shoulder at his bespectacled colleague. "We need to find out how long Alyx and Gordon have down there!"

"Yes, Eli, yes. In a moment, I promise." Dr. Kleiner toyed absentmindedly with his glasses. "It's just that Magnusson rather insisted that I make sure these material transport systems we have around the camp be fully functional. He seems worried about it for some reason."

"What're you talking about?" Eli limped over to the desk. "We tested those things already. Shoot, Alyx, Gordon, Judith, me… we've all been through those things and come out in one piece."

"Yes, yes." Kleiner nodded, bent over his drawings. "But there was some unusual interference the first couple times Gordon used the teleporter."

Eli chuckled. "That was because that pet of yours jumped into the xenium stream at a crucial stage."

"Lamarr had nothing to do with it!" Kleiner looked up, his expression wounded. "She merely got a little excited, that's all." He frowned a moment in recollection. "The poor thing… it took me weeks to find her after that incident, and then she was frazzled for some days after…"

"Izzy." Eli shook his head, smiling. "The teleporter works fine. The only problem with those teleportations was that the first one was interrupted, and the second blew up just as they were going out."

"But that's just it!" Kleiner raised an excited finger, once again studying his charts. He pushed a long printout covered in jagged lines over to Eli. "According to these readings, that couldn't have been the only explanation! The resonance is off the charts, but not because of any interruption or enhancement during the process. There was some impediment of the atom transmission process."

Eli picked up the printout and scanned it over. About halfway through he looked up. "Well… maybe you've got something here, Izzy. Do you know what it could be?"

Kleiner shrugged. "It looks like some kind of suspension field of some kind, or a counter-resonance to the xenium. But what that could be, or what it might even entail…" He shook his head. "The odd thing is, there's a similar disruption around your daughter, but on a much smaller scale. None of our other transports have…"

"Alyx?" Eli ripped the paper out of Kleiner's hands. "But… How? Where would she have gotten it? Is it dangerous?"

Kleiner took a step back, surprised. "I… I told you Eli, I can't be certain. I don't even know what the disruption is. It's like nothing I've seen before." He tried a reassuring smile. "In any case, it's nearly non-existent on her. It must've been from a long time ago." He scratched his bald head. "Possibly something from the old days at Black Mesa. There were a lot of things going on then."

The words were not exactly comforting, but Eli seemed to relax slightly. He let out a light laugh and lowered the printouts to the table.

Kleiner smiled. "There, see? Nothing to worry about after all. Now, how about we get back to work on that estimate you were talking about."

Shrugging, Eli turned over to the computers, gesturing at a screen. "I've worked out some energy discharges, and some other things, but nothing else. It looks like the core was almost hardwired to explode, but that doesn't make any sense."

"Well, let me take a look at those figures, Eli." Kleiner clicked a few keys on the board, the eerie blue light of the screen reflecting off his glasses. He frowned. "So indeed it does, but why would that be an objective? There could be no purpose for such a discharge…"

"Hey, Doc, Doc, Judith just cleared the hanger." Barney came walking into the conversation. "By the way… she said she'll do her best to keep in constant contact, but isn't that kinda dangerous? I mean, last I heard, we were hiding from the Combine…"

"The Citadel's destroyed, Barney." Eli looked up. "Or will be in another five minutes, give or take. The Combine are going to be too busy regrouping to pay us much attention."

Barney shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'm all set to head out to City 17. Any word back from Alyx about Gordon?"

"What?" Isaac blinked up at the man. "Oh, yes! That's right, you weren't here… Alyx called in about a half hour ago. She found Gordon."

"Man!" Barney shook his head. "How does that guy do it? I swear, he could riverdance in a mine field!"

"Doctor Freeman does seem to have a knack for getting out of these situations, yes." Kleiner nodded, turning back to the computer. "He is a man of many skills indeed. I wonder how I never saw it when he was working before…" He shook his balding head. "Adaption, I suppose."

"Well, you give him that special Mach 3 suit and let him tote around that zero-point whachamacallit." Barney rolled his eyes. "It's not as much a surprise as you make out. I still don't see why we don't make more of those things. If they work out so well for him, why don't we just…"

"We didn't have enough supplies to make more than one of those things." Eli looked up. "You know that. And Gordon knows how to operate them things better than anybody else. But you got a point. We're gonna have to work on that."

"Yeah…" Barney nodded, slowly. "And the guy is lucky. Doggone lucky. Gotta admit that. He gets some real good breaks."

Eli eyed Barney. "You ain't jealous, are you Calhoun?"

"No! Of course not! I…" Calhoun sighed a little. "It's just… I dunno. Gordon's my buddy and all, and nobody was more glad to see him back then me. I mean… when I saw him getting on that train…" Barney chuckled. "…nearly had a heart attack."

"It was indeed a shock to see him so suddenly like that." Kleiner put in, bent over the charts. "Especially so very much like the day of the Incident. It… heh." He stood up, shaking his head. "It brought back so many memories, all at once."

"And that's what really get's me." Barney suddenly interrupted. "See, I don't think Gordon's really even aged since then. I don't really even think he's been on earth, or even spent much time between then and now. Heck, for all I know, he got zapped straight from one day to the next! For years, he's been gone, off the radar, off the combine, off the underground, everything, and then one day he just pops up and nearly hops on the train to the most dangerous place on earth! He doesn't know about the Combine, doesn't know about Dr. Breen, doesn't even remember about the Seven-Hour freaking War!" Barney looked from a silent Eli to a silent Isaac. "I mean… ahhh… oh, never mind."

"Zapped from one day to another…" Izzy mused, a thought striking him. "Or possibly…"

"It…. It seems unfair sometimes." Barney shook his head. "I… I mean… we, all of us. We had to live through the Seven-Hour War. You, Eli, had to run and hide, with Alyx, and try to bring her up through all the Combine terror. I had to join the CP's. Izzy here had to duck and dodge, make a tiny lab in a subway basement. We had to live every second of those twenty years, and he just gets zapped through them? Skips right from the beginning to the end? It… it doesn't seem right." Barney sighed. "Sometimes."

There was a momentary silence. Eli leaned against the desk, looking at the ground. Isaac was bent over it, back to studying the graphs. Barney looked from one to the other.

"…possibly a stasis-like dimension portal…" Isaac mumbled under his breath.

"Barney." Eli replied, still staring at the ground. "Would it have been the end? If he hadn't come when he did?"

Barney just looked at him.

"The Combine might never have stepped on us. The people might never have gotten hope enough to fight. Certainly Nova Prospekt would never have been infiltrated and destroyed, and probably Judith would never have done… well, what she did." Eli winced a little with the memory. "Gordon didn't skip to the ending. He created the ending. Not consciously, no. He didn't make any great speech or get caught up with this holy desire to rush right in. But simply his appearing gave everyone a sense that things… that they were changing, Barney. Even us." A chuckle escaped him. "You know, Barney, when he popped up, that we were getting as tired of the whole thing as everyone else. The resistance mighta just kicked the bucket after I got taken, if they hadn't felt that the war was just beginning."

Nodding slowly, Barney rubbed his neck shamefacedly. "I know. I'm not saying I'm not grateful. But when I think of all those years…"

"Actually," Eli frowned. "Those years are actually the best part. Barney, tell me, if you had the chance to skip all the years in the middle, would you?"

"Well…" Barney started, then stopped.

"Would you really want to skip all that? Want to skip the beginning of each and every day? Want to just miss the rise of the Underground? Want to miss Alyx, growing up? Would you want to fly past the first time you brought people out of the city? Want to skip past all the time you spent hiding and helping others… me, Isaac, Magnusson, Gina, everyone?"

"Gina…" Barney closed his eyes.

"Gordon's skipped some bad moments, yeah." Eli stepped forward. "But he's also skipped every tiny triumph we've had over the years. He's skipped the little joys we've shared, the everyday victories that make the fight worthwhile." Eli stopped a moment and drew a breath. "He's skipped most of life, Barney. Jumped right from one battle into another."

Barney was silent. His fingers gently stroked a tiny ribbon tied to the edge of his rifle, and his mouth was set in a firm line. Finally he nodded. "Yeah… yeah, I guess so. Sorry, doc. Got a little caught up, I guess."

Drawing a final breath, he looked up and smiled. "So. Guess I'll head out to City 17, then."

"You do that, Barney." Eli nodded. "We'll keep you posted if the Citadel goes boom."

He watched in silence as the middle-aged man made his way out the door and stepped out. Slowly his head shook.

"Eli." His attention was suddenly drawn back to the balding Isaac, pecking at his elbow. "I think I know what's the problem with the teleporters."

Eli sighed. "Izzy, can we talk about this later?"

"But you don't understand!" Isaac gestured to the sheet. "The problem's with Gordon. He must've somehow been put in a stasis-like state for an extended period. That would explain the unusual problems with the teleporters. They didn't quite know how to handle the time-space displacement already inherent in his moleules!"

"That's great Izzy, but…"

"The only thing I can't understand is how Alyx has the same reading." Isaac frowned at the chart. "Did you ever put her in a stasis, Eli?"

Eli sighed. "Izzy, we don't even have a stasis field, and neither does the Combine. To my knowledge…"

"Taking Gordon's current readings, and the time since, I'd say Alyx's stasis exposure was much shorter or a long time ago, say…" Izzy thought a moment. "Seven Hour's War. Or Black Mesa, if it was very short."

"We didn't have even teleporters then, Izzy, there's no way…"

Suddenly Eli stopped. His eyes got very large. And wide.

"Aw crap." He muttered. "Gordon must've met him too."


	3. Combine Christmas

**A Combine Christmas**

"Can't think of the last time I saw snow." Jared commented to Cliff, staring up at the white flakes drifting through the air.

Cliff grunted. "Yeah, I'm all choked up. We get shipped off with that crazy Mossman lady to some god-forsaken corner of the globe to find a ship, of all things, we actually find the ship, you and I get stuck on guard duty outside; and all you can think about is the snow? I'm freezing my buns off here, man." He rubbed his arms and shivered. "You got a light on ya?"

"Here." Jared dug around in his vest and brought out a lighter.

"Thanks." The weather-beaten rebel leaned against the metal wall behind them and cupped his hands around his cigarette. After a few futile clicks, Cliff gave a grunt of satisfaction and raised his head. A thin stream of smoke whisped from his lips into the cold air.

Jared was still staring at the snow. "It reminds me of Christmas." He said suddenly.

Cliff looked over. "What?"

"Christmas. You know. Tree, presents, peace on earth and all that." He gave a little grin, still staring off at the snow. "It was snowing the last time I had Christmas. I mean, a real one."

"Oh for crying out loud." Cliff rolled his eyes. "Don't get started on that again, kid."

"Shut up." Jared glared at him. "Anyways, when was the last time you celebrated Christmas?"

Cliff shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe eighteen years back, when people still bothered to try that sort of thing on the sly. Hung out at a friend of mine's. Just him and me, drinking beer, telling stories about our girlfriends, stuff like that. Not much. After that I just kinda stopped." He threw Jared an amused glance. "How about you, chief? Still doing the whole thing with the tree and the fat man and the suit?"

"Feh." Jared huffed, fishing a cigarette from his pants. "Nobody's done anything for years and you know it. Toss me back my lighter, wouldja?"

"Sure." The thin metal case whistled in a smooth arc. Jared caught it evenly and held it to his cigarette. A few flickers, and he too stood erect, smoke curling from his mouth. For a moment the two men just stood there, thin trails of smoke vanishing into the frigid air, watching the frozen flecks whistle around them.

"Last time I remember." Jared spoke finally. "Was during some supply job in White Forest. Me and Hansen—you knew Hansen, right?"

"Course I knew him."

"Anyway, we were running weapons to White Forest, but the Combine were all over the place, and we were laying low in some cave somewhere, just the two of us. We were both lying flat on our bellies, staring at the bushes, looking for the Overwatch, when all of a sudden, Hansen says to me, 'you know, today's December 25th.' And I just stare at him for a minute before I get it and say, 'Yeah, you're right.'"

"And?"

"That was pretty much it. Hansen started humming some tune under his breath, and I think I tossed him a round of ammo, and said 'here's your present', but that was it."

"That the run Hansen got killed on?"

"Yeah. Six years ago, I guess."

"Poor devil."

"Yeah."

There was another short silence. Behind them, the two caught the sounds of scuffling, heavy objects being moved, and then silence.

"Hey Cliff?"

"Hmmm?"

"You really think this thing's the _Borealis_?"

Cliff snorted. "How many ships can there be out here?"

"Just wondering." Jared stretched his arms and sighed, letting the smoke puff out.

A light chuckle came from Cliff. "Y'know, this thing would make one heck of a Christmas present."

"You're off by a month or two, Cliff." Jared glanced at him sideways. "I just said the snow made me think about it."

"Whatever." Cliff shrugged. "I'll take my presents early."

"It ain't the presents I miss." Jared drew in on his cigarette and let it come out through his nose. "I just kinda wish we still celebrated it. Y'know, like get everybody together, get a tree, have the kids do their little Joseph and Mary thingie…"

"**OH** no." Cliff coughed, shaking his head. "Don't get into all that. Stupidest story ever. Can't see why they ever bothered to throw it in."

"It ain't a story, Cliff…"

"Aw, c'mon." A grimace twisted Cliff's face. "You actually believed all that? The whole world gets screwed over because a mistake some guy makes, so everybody pays for it for time immemorial until some otherworldly being steps in and makes stuff right?" Cliff shook his head again. "Gotta wonder who came up with that idea."

"Aw, c'mon, Cliff." Jared looked annoyed. "What's your problem with it? Your folks raise you bad or something?"

Another chuckle from Cliff. "Boy, you don't know the first thing about my folks." He looked up at the sky. "Nah. Just didn't see the point. Always seemed a bit too ridiculous. And don't get me started on that Fat man in the Red Suit."

"Hey, that guy's a classic."

"Yeah, and so's your mother." Cliff flipped his cigarette down to the snow and ground it out with his foot. "I just don't get what the idea is waiting around for free grabs." He turned and gestured at Jared. "I mean, you don't wait for somebody to give you lucky breaks or hand out favors. You don't just sit and wait for somebody to drop from the sky and destroy the Combine like thunder. You do that, you wind up dead." He looked over at Jared. "No, you stand your ground, you go out by yourself, and you destroy the Combine yourself."

"Now, this ship here." He banged the side. "This ain't no present. We looked for it, we found it, and we're going to use it. We didn't get it by waiting around for someone to hand it to us, we went out and gosh-darn found it! Now, if you ask me…"

Suddenly Cliff stopped. Out came his arm, pointing to the sky.

"Those look like Dropships to you?"

* * *

Oh, before I forget, I don't own Half-Life, the _Borealis_, or Christmas. I'd say I own Jared and Cliff, but after they ran off like this, I'm not so sure. 

So here we are The obligatory Christmas special. Wasn't getting anywhere on the one I had planned for this week anyway, so tried to think of something with the season. It's kinda fun to think how seasons would survive in a Combine world, especially after 20 years.

If this offends you, please review and let me know. If it doesn't, then review anyway. It won't make much difference either way, although obviously I'd prefer optimistic things.


	4. Supergirl

The air was shrieking about Alyx'x ears, and the train rattled crazily about the track. Looking back, she could see the shattered citadel, glowing, crackling with strange energy. A beam shot from the top and met the sky.

"Oh my god." Alyx's hand flew to her mouth. "The transmission's going out!" She cried, glancing over at Gordon.

Gordon, braced up against the railing, pistol in hand, turned at her voice and nodded amiably.

That man. Infuriating.

Suddenly, Gordon's head whipped up, staring at the sky. His pistol arm shot up, started firing. Dimly, Alyx was aware of hundreds of pod-like ships, screaming away from the Citadel, flying out and past them.

She was aware of them, but she could not spare a glimpse. Her eyes were fixed on the bizarre, crackling explosion of the Citadel. A strong, glowing light was pulsing from its base, etching the landscape in stark black. Planks flew through the air, guns, cars, bits of wall scattered from the buildings.

The Citadel erupted in a wave of blinding light, and Alyx felt herself lifted clear from the floor and flung from the train.

The only thing she managed to gasp before the air was punched out of her was, "Gordon…"

* * *

Slowly, Alyx became aware of herself. Something sticky and wet was on her forehead. Her legs were tangled up in a brush of something. Her entire body hurt all over.

She was on the ground. This flashed upon her as a curious recollection. And her head hurt. This was not so curious, as it had been hurting for a few minutes now, but now she realized it wasn't supposed to feel like that.

She blundered about with her arms and legs, seeking to raise herself into a sitting position. A finger brushed against a hem of rusted metal, a train wheel.

For a moment she just stared at it stupidly, wondering what a train wheel was doing in a forest (as she now realized she was). Then something clicked in her head, and she remembered. The train… right. They must've crashed. Probably from that explosion. It was a lucky thing she hadn't been hurt.

Gordon… Gordon had been on the train. She should get up and look for him. Her mind latching onto this simple idea, she stumbled to her feet, grasping a nearby tree for support. She swayed momentarily, getting her balance, then shook her head to clear it.

Her gun. She looked about, then spotted it some yards away. Stumbling over, she leant down and picked it up before straightening up again.

She was at the top of a hill in a loosely wooded forest, it appeared. For a moment she struggled to think, and then it clicked. Right. The forest by the train tracks. There was supposed to be an antlion farm around here, but she knew there was a satellite station they could use to contact her dad.

Far off, between the trees, she caught a glimpse of metal, and she jogged toward it. It was a piece of the train, apparently torn loose in the explosion. Alyx stood up, quickly scanning for more, to try and find where the main part of the train was.

There were none.

Sighing with frustration, Alyx picked a direction at random and jogged off. She had to find Gordon and get moving. The Combine were still after them, and she couldn't afford to waste much time. Maybe he had been thrown clear like she had or maybe thrown back into the train…

Or maybe he had snapped his neck on a rock or been ground into a bloody pulp.

Alyx stopped and put her hands to her head. _No, no._ She thought_. It won't help to get thinking about that. Find him. Just find him._

With a deep breath, she continued weaving through the forest. The hill was inclining rapidly, and her breaths were coming in deep gulps, but she still kept running. Somewhere in the back of her brain, it occurred to her strange that she should be so worried about Gordon. After all, it wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself.

For that matter, it wasn't like she was unused to her companions dying on her. Alyx had been watching people die since she was old enough to carry a gun. Some she had been with in their last minutes, some she hadn't, and some she had had to shoot down as they lunged toward her, long fingers stretched to kill. D0g was about the only… thing that really stuck by her all those years.

So no, Alyx couldn't say she would really be surprised if Gordon was dead. Or even really very shocked. It was just like…

She stopped and shook her head. No, it wasn't and she knew it wasn't. Gordon wasn't just any other traveling companion, he was a real light of hope for the Rebellion, and the biggest thorn the Combine had ever felt since her dad. He…

A sudden, sonorous hooting interrupted her thoughts and she glanced sharply up. Vortiguants! And nearby, too! Probably helping with the station, but it gave her a bearing. She'd have to try to find them once she got Gordon.

Shaking herself clear of the thoughts, Alyx began to jog up the slope again. It occurred to her that she could probably just run for the base and bring back help to find Gordon, but she pushed it away. She needed to find him. Now. She wouldn't last five minutes with the Combine on her tail like this.

Again, the assumption struck her as odd, and she wondered why. She supposed if it came down to it, she could defend herself against… wait, what was she talking about, of course she could defend herself! She'd been doing it for goodness knows how long already!

But for some reason… since the Citadel and… everything there, Alyx had gotten less sure of that. She didn't feel completely safe by herself anymore. Again, natural, you always take a buddy to watch your back. She'd always known that, but never had anyone who could really do it well. She'd always had to save them, not them save her.

In some ways, she supposed she'd been something of a superhero in the resistance. She frowned, still jogging, not liking the connotations. She'd been the go-to person who could handle everything and protect everyone. But even when she had, there'd always been this tiny doubt in her mind, about whether she would be able protect herself. It was great to be Super-Girl-person who saved everyone, but if you were, who on earth was supposed to save you?

Maybe that's why she'd become so terrified after the Citadel. She'd finally been captured, and she didn't know anyone who could save her.

She slowed a moment in her step as she thought about that. She'd lost something of her confidence, she guessed. She'd always known she wasn't invincible, but to suddenly face it, to be stuck in a position with no hope of escape… well, that did something to you.

And if something had happened to Gordon, she would really be alone, and probably dead within the hour. She tore through the woods at breakneck speed, coming out on top of the hill.

She gasped.

She saw the bridge they had been crossing. It looked like it had been badly damaged in the explosion, but still intact. But what scared her was the train. It was half hanging from the bridge, cars in a tangled mass of metal in the river below.

She leapt down the mountain. Gordon couldn't be down there, he couldn't possibly have survived a fall like that, and those cars were half-smashed in. He couldn't be down there, if he was, she wouldn't be able to make it, she couldn't…

And there he was, in the bottom rail car, swaying a little with dizziness, and crouching under the low ceiling, but apparently very much alive. He seemed to be poking around with a crowbar.

"Gordon!" She tumbled down the last few feet and ran over. "Oh Gordon! Thank God you're okay!"

Gordon arched an eyebrow and nodded, quizzicly.

That man. Infuriating.

"Hang on for a second. We'll get you out." She assured him.

And as she turned to find a way in, it occurred to her that actually, she shouldn't have worried. Gordon was always alright. He had survived an explosion from the top of the Citadel, he was hardly going to die being thrown off a train.

Alyx grinned as she hoisted the Gravity gun. Maybe she didn't need to be Supergirl any longer.

* * *

**A/N: **Yeah, I should work on this more, but some new things have come out recently in my other fandom's, and one can only run on Half-Life glory for too long. But I thought I owed you guys some more, and I have some more ideas for these things, so I felt I should get on this. And this was half-written before I posted the Christmas one, so I needed to finish it.

Ahem. Please Review.


	5. Odd Odds

"I love you too, baby." Eli leaned close to the screen and spoke quietly. "I'll be praying for you."

The switch cut the transmission to silence, and the screen to static. Eli leaned back with a sigh. He glanced to Isaac, to Magnusson.

Of course, Magnusson was the first one to speak. "We'll have to move up the launch schedule." He affirmed. "Most definitely. Even if they can get here on time, the Combine will be right on their heels. We'll need to be able to send that satellite out the second they get here." He gestured. "Kliener, I want you and any available personnel to report to Hangar 1."

"Of course." Kleiner nodded, he was still staring at the screen. "My word, though, what a chance! We have the code, the resonater, the rocket… we could really get them with this!"

Magnusson rolled his eyes. "Obviously. And with such a chance, they will do everything to stop us, so we must be ready to face it! Now are you coming or not?"

Shaking his head clear of thoughts, Kleiner turned to look at him. "Yes. Yes of course, just give me a few moments."

With a snort, Magnusson disappeared through the door. They could hear his sharp voice barking orders already. Kleiner looked over to Eli. The elderly man had still not moved from the screen.

"Eli?" Kleiner moved over to his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Oh…" Eli's shoulders gave a little heave and then he came up. "I'm alright, Isaac. Just give me a minute, will you?" He sighed. "I'm feeling a little… overcome by all this."

"Well, I imagine." Kleiner smiled amiably, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It must seem incredible, I mean, after all this time, to be able to really hit at the Combine. I mean…" he gave a little laugh. "I can hardly believe it myself. We've always poked at them, helped people escape, held them off a day or so but never…" Another laugh. "Never anything like this." He shook his head. "It… well, at times it almost seemed like we were fighting something we could really defeat."

"Like fightin' gods, Izzy? That what you were thinking?" Eli eyed the balding scientist. "In a way, I guess." His gaze hardened a moment. "Except they definitely _ain't_ gods, whatever they are. More like…" he gestured vaguely. "…demons"

"Oh please." Magnusson's harsh voice broke in on the conversation. "Let's have none of that babble here." He was standing by the door, shuffling through some papers. "Kleiner, where did you put those launch protocols?"

"Eh? Oh, over by the printer." Kleiner pointed.

Magnusson gave a little huff and began sorting through the mess on the desk. "If you still retain any sort of superstitious holdings on such matters, Vance, you had better get them sorted out now." He stopped momentarily to give the old man a cold eye. "The Combine are not your so-called demons, or gods, whichever you choose. They are merely animals, creatures like us. They have failings, limits, and weaknesses just as we do."

Eli seemed to have recovered some. He looked at Magnusson. "Creatures _just_ like us?"

"Well…" Magnusson waved his arms vaguely. "More intelligent, more specialized, perhaps." He glared. "And very certainly different. But creatures. They can be destroyed, just as we can be destroyed. This is a struggle between species, nothing more." He picked a paper out and nodded at it satisfactorily. "The dice is up between the two of us, and if we intend to win, we must be ready when it comes down." He looked over at Kleiner. "Which brings me, incidently, back to the rocket. Kleiner, are you coming or…"

"Yes, yes." Kleiner nodded, straightening and gathering some prints from the cabinet. "I'll be there."

"This ain't just a dice game, Magnusson." Eli arched his eyebrows. "We are going to win this thing, whatever the Combine do. Even if this rocket thing don't pan out."

Magnusson eyed him sceptically. "Indeed? And why do you think that?"

Eli inclined his head. "C'mon, Magnusson, it's simple history. Nazis fell. Napolean fell. Soviet Empire fell. So will the Combine." He leant forward. "There's no accident about these things."

"No?" A snort. "I think things could very easily have gone the other way, even as far as they've gone." Magnusson tucked the paper under his arm. "Judith told me before she left something about what Breen said about Gordon." His eyes narrowed. "Said he was available to the highest bidder. Lucky he ended up on our side, eh?"

Eli smiled. "Nothing lucky about it. I'll bet the Combine bid every bit they had on him. But apparently, there's a higher bidder out there than the Combine."

Magnusson started to reply, then stopped. His face had a look of keen concentration.

"And whoever they were, they wanted him with us." Eli smiled as he sat down. "I don't know about you, but that makes me feel mighty better about the odds."

* * *

It's short. And it's kinda pointless. But this is an idea that occurred to me while watching the playthrough. Gordon may have been up for highest bid, but who outbid the Combine? And Eli strikes me as the sort who would figure that out, given what he knows. I love Magnusson, seriously, I do, but he was the best to play the other side here.

Anyway. This is just to tide over while I get another Alyx/Gordon thing ready. Hope no one's getting sick of those, cause that's most of what the game is.


	6. Lone Ranger

"Hurry up in there, Gordon. We're not alone here." Alyx called, watching Gordon blunder around in the shed, looking for the opening lever. She shivered, and scanned around once more. She could have been sure she heard something…

"Hurry up!" She called, unnessecarily. Why had she told Gordon to look for the gate release? She could have found that stupid lever long before now! Or at least, why didn't they just do it together? It's not like they needed to watch this closed gate!

She shook her head. _Get a hold of yourself._ She said silently._ Now just sit tight and watch that door, and for crying out loud quit whining like a little baby! You can handle this alone…_

There was a grinding reverberation behind her, and the corner of her eye caught the latticed shadow of the gate sliding back on rusty relays.

She let out a sigh of relief, and started slowly backing up toward the shed. "Great, Gordon." She threw a glance over her shoulder. Gordon was staring at the window at the back. "Now let's get out of here. There's something snooping around out here."

She heard some more banging around inside, and then she heard the crunch of footsteps. Gordon was coming out from under the trailer.

She turned towards the trailer, and then she heard it.

Quick, rapid patters on the gravel by inhuman feet.

She had barely time to turn and gasp, before the creature was upon her. A single blue eye glared at her from its crushing, suffocating weight. A sharp pain lanced through her very middle, and her very insides seemed to tear apart. Out of the darkness that smote her to the ground, Alyx caught a faint glimpse of Gordon, trapped under the rubble of the shed.

And then everything went black.

* * *

Black, whirling, contorting black. It twisted at her, hurt her, formed into strange faces and whispered meaningless phrases at her. There was a faint glow, but it did not illuminate, only make the black more terrible.

A strange chanting filled the darkness. She was slowly aware of her body, and now knew that it no longer hurt, but felt strangely heavy, and yet light. And she was tired, oh so tired, and if she could only…

_Come back, my dear. You are not yet done._

_Come back. Do not leave, Alyx._

The two voices strove in her mind, both completely out of place, and yet strangely familiar. She had a dim flash of a room, a silhouette, but she could make nothing out, no more than she could make out which voice it was that finally spoke.

_Come back._

* * *

"Ohhh." Pain, lancing up her spine and to her skull. She brought up her hand to her head, sitting up. Apparently she was lying down. She started to rise further, but the pain stopped her, and something—a hand held her back.

"Lie still." A guttural croak advised her, from the blurry dark floating in the bright light above her.

The pain was quickly fading, but the weariness was not, and the advice was all too easy to obey. She let an arm fall back to brace herself. "Oh God." She heard someone say, and realized it was herself. "I… I thought I was dead." Memory came creeping back.

"The Combine Hunter caused traumatic injury." Spoke the blurs again, now fully recognizable as Vortiguants.

Her brain processed this, connected it. "A hunter… so that's what it was."

"We knit shattered bone and restored circulatory integrity." Came another voice, another Vortiguant. She looked down her feet at him. How many were there here? It was dark, how long had she been out? God, had they all been working on her?

"Yet, it was a Freeman." Came a croak from the left. "who retrieved your vortessence."

Freeman. Gordon. There he was, off to the right, strangely out of place in this circle of alien mystics, and glancing around like he had just dropped into the cave.

She could hardly keep from smiling. "Yeah, that's Gordon."

Gordon started and looked at her, his eyes focusing as if seeing her for the first time. His mouth tilted upwards in an oddly troubled smirk, and he lowered his gun.

* * *

It occurred to her much later, when she was gasping for breath behind the shelter of some sheet metal, that Gordon should not have had his gun out like that, and also that he had looked rather wild for Gordon, almost as if he'd seen some kind of enemy.

Of course, perhaps he had been thinking of the antlion guardian, Alyx told herself wryly, watching a car sail through the air. She didn't know what Gordon and the Vortiguant had done to make it so mad, but she had an uncomfortable feeling it had something to do with her. She told herself fiercely that she had neither time nor right to sit there gasping, and pushed off from the wall with the firm intention of popping that guardian a few.

Intention or not, she lasted all of five steps before she collapsed against another metal framing.

"You must rest." The vortiguant called over at her, electricity pouring from its palms. "The Freeman and I shall deal with the Guardian." He threw himself back against another makeshift wall. "You must not injure yourself any further."

Alyx rolled her eyes, but gave in to him. Casting a glance to the side, she shook her head in amusement. Gordon seemed almost to be having fun, picking up cars with the gravity gun and hurling them at the Guardian. She watched a little grin tilt his mouth as another sent the enormous creature scuttling further back, out of range.

It felt so strange to be sitting there, letting these two handle things for her. She was the one who was supposed to handle things, not the one that they handled things for. That was her dad.

An explosion shook the metal wall, and she crouched down instinctively. She indulged herself with firing with a few shots at the unseen attacker, before the Vortiguant came rushing over and took things over.

She threw herself back behind the wall. So strange… to have help. She supposed she had worked on teams before, but this was different. Nobody she had ever worked with had the experience, the quality that she had. It was so odd to suddenly be the underdog, the one who couldn't handle what was going on.

"Coming through." She heard a grunt, and the wall shook as a tall, bespectacled figure took cover behind it. He looked down at her and arched an eyebrow.

She offered a smile. "Sorry I'm not much help. Still trying to get my wind, I guess."

Gordon shrugged and cocked his shotgun. "No big deal." He whirled around the corner and popped off a few shells. A smile curved his mouth. "Take it easy. You've been mostly dead all day."

"Huh?"

"Princess Bride." Gordon answered, as if that clarified matters. He looked down at her again. "Ah, forget it. Before your time." He whirled around the corner again and let the shotgun roar.

Alyx rolled her eyes. As if it wasn't strange enough that Gordon was actually talking, now he was saying she'd been dead. Weird. And he was acting almost… friendly. He hadn't been normal since… well, since she woke up, she guessed.

There was an explosion, and an odd sort of squelching splatter noise from the other side of the wall. She heard some screeches from the smaller Antlions, and then the weird scrabbling noises of their claws. They were leaving.

"We must move quickly." The Vortiguant croaked. "The humans of which I spoke are near."

"Sure." Gordon nodded, hefting the shotgun. "Lead on."

The vortiguant began to trot over to a clumsy lift-like contraption on the other side of the ravine. Gordon turned to her and offered her a hand covered in some green goo. She grabbed hold and hoisted herself up. "Thanks." She started to move off.

"Hey, Alyx."

She stopped and turned. Okay, now he was acting really strange. He'd barely mentioned her name three times since he met her. What was up?

And he seemed… well, for Gordon, somewhat hesitant. His eyebrows were narrowed in a sort of quizzical concentration, and his eyes had a very strange glint.

"When you were… uh… well, not dead, but… y'know." He jerked an eyebrow. "Do… do you remember anything about… well, about being dead?"

"Do I remember being dead?"

"You know." He seemed somewhat eager, and yet cautious. "Like messages from old friends or anything like that? Anything with your… uh… father?"

Alyx took a few moments to process the inquiry. What kind of stupid question was that? Gordon didn't seem like the overly religious type. She might have thought the question merely odd, or even insensitive, if anyone else had asked. But Gordon didn't ask pointless questions. And he most certainly didn't ask them with a desperate, almost hungry air.

Slowly, she shook her head. "No… not that I remember."

"You're sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure."

Something disappeared from his eyes, and his shoulders slumped ever so slightly. He stared at the ground, apparently lost in thought.

She eyed him worriedly. "Gordon, you feeling okay?"

He started and looked up with a smile. "Just wondering." He picked up a pistol from the ground and jammed a clip in. "If you could remember what it was like being dead, I'll bet you could make a fortune." He stuck the pistol into his belt.

"Huh?"

"Forget it."

She shrugged and began to move toward the lift. But just as she moved out of earshot, she caught a few muttered words.

"I though I was the only one…"

* * *

Another short one-shot, kinda like the one Supergirl one. If I was Gordon, I'd make some attempt to see if she remembered the message, and I don't think she would. And maybe this was fore-shadowed elsewhere, but it was a surprise to ME to learn that G-man had saved Alyx too. I think Gordon would be a little interested.

This should be it for a while. I'm going to be on vacation


	7. Boys And Girls

**Boys And Girls**

* * *

"_Doggone_ it, that turret's flared up _again_!" Luther heard the man behind him hiss. "And here's us, with a whole field of headcrabs between us and it."

"Uh-huh." Luther responded, staring in another direction entirely. There was a woman talking to Jurgen on the bottom level.

"I mean, headcrabs I could take." He heard the man say again. Luther knew the man had a name, but he could not remember it. "Just one shotgun blast and BAM! Y'know? But headcrabs, while crouching behind garbage, dodging from corner to corner? Forget it!"

"Sure thing." Luther nodded. Man, was she hot. The girl seemed to be concerned about something, she kept pointing to the north and nodding at Jurgen. Jurgen looked rather nervous.

Luther couldn't really blame him.

"Especially with the ammo we have." The man--Francis, Luther realized with a start—continued. "Jurgen'd probably want us to go in with two-by-fours and wrenches and crowbars and take 'em out that way."

"Probably." Jurgen and the girl were still talking. Some guy in a weird armor-suit had just walked straight up to her. What was he doing there? The girl glanced at him a couple times and smiled.

Rats.

"I mean, what kinda idiot would do something like that?"

"Dunno." Now the girl was talking to Jurgen and Suit-man. Jurgen was putting in an occasional word, but Suit-Guy didn't seem to feel like talking. He just glanced around the room in the most disinterested way possible. He didn't even seem to hear the girl. He must be insane, Luther concluded. No one in their right mind looks that calm. Especially with a girl right there. A girl! Suppression field or no suppression field…

Luther stopped that thought before it could run away. Anyway, the fields were lifted, so that wasn't really even an issue. But still… he looked again. Maaaan. Where did girls like her come from? Sure, there were a few around the base here, but they… well, they were… He frowned. Well, they just weren't _girls_. They were fighters, hardened, cold, businesslike fighters. No sense of humor or grace at all. They just didn't really seem like girls, or even women. More like men.

He frowned, wondering how that had happened. Must just be something that happened to most women who went fighting like that. He'd heard they were supposed to be all sensitive and stuff—the ones here sure weren't—but maybe if they used to be, killing people would be that much harder. Maybe…

Oh wait. Suit guy was leaving. Time to make a move. Luther pushed off from the railing (ignoring Francis' statement about helicopters and headcrabs.) and began to walk down to floor level

Jurgen was walking away too, a bewildered look on his face. The girl snapped a last few words at suit-guy, and he turned and offered a grin. Idiot. Talk to her, or be submissive, or just act cool, but _smile_? And walk away? The guy had no talent dealing with girls, obviously.

Anyway, Suit-man was gone now. The girl was staring after him, but at least she was alone. Now or never, Luther-boy.

With a step he hoped was suave, and a smile he thought engaging, Luther waltzed up to the girl and said. "So… that your boyfriend?"

The girl started, looked at him, and walked away.

Ah well.


	8. Passing On

"All right, Freeman, come with me. I think I may finally have found a useful purpose for you." Magnusson stalked off, leaving a somewhat confused Gordon behind. He cast a glance at Alyx and her father on the couch.

Eli shrugged. "So… eh… We'll catch up later, huh, Gordon?"

His face suddenly cleared, and Gordon nodded at the two of them before disappearing out the door.

"That Magnusson…" Alyx muttered.

"Oh, baby, he's not that bad." Eli chuckled. "He's just a little bit rough around the edges, that's all. He's probably handled the occupation better than any of us, or at least, it doesn't seem to have had much affect on him. Me and Kleiner are just a bunch of old fogies fooling around, but he at least keeps us in line."

"What was that with Gordon?" Alyx turned on her father.

"Hmmm? What?" Eli glanced at her, as if startled from thought.

"What do you and Gordon need to catch up on?"

Her father smiled, a touch nervously, she decided. "Nothing. Just talking about the old days at Black Mesa, that's all."

"Hm." She stared at him. "And was that what you were talking about when I came in?"

"Yeah." Again the smile. "Same thing. Just talking about the good old days."

Alyx smiled back. "Sure. You're always talking about 'the good old days.' Advanced regional transportation physics, government projects, headcrab-and-alien infested compounds…"

He chuckled. "Gordon's got some good stories about those times. Ask him about Icthysaurs sometime."

"He fought one of those?"

Her father shrugged. "That's what he said. With a crowbar, though I'm not sure if I believe that part."

"That man..." Smiling, she let her head sink onto her father's shoulder. "Infuriating."

"Hmmm." Eli seemed to be lost in thought. "Y'know, you two make a pretty good team…"

"Oh, DAD!" She poked him in the side, exasperated. "Honestly! I can't believe you said that, right in front of him!"

"You said that, honey." Chuckling softly, he kissed the top of her head. "I just pointed out that since the suppression fields were down…"

"DAD!"

Her father laughed, a light, easy laugh. "It's worth thinking about." He murmured. "Something tells me you have already, though."

"I most certainly have not."

"Well you should." A shadow passed over his face. "I'm not going to be around forever, honey."

Alyx frowned. Pushing herself off his shoulder, she looked at him hard. "Don't say that." She scolded him. "You're not going to die for a long time yet. You've got Dr. Kliener, and Judith, and everyone here to look after you. And maybe, once this is over… I can stay around more and keep a better eye on you…"

"Oh, honey." He shook his head at her. "You're too lively to sit around looking after an old man. You need to be out, and around."

"I could do it."

"Of course you could." He nodded. "But you shouldn't have to. Girl like you should be free to go about. Especially when the resistance needs a good fighter like you." A half-smile quirked his face. "Last thing you should be doing is tending to a dying old coot in some backwater station."

Lips trembling, she stared at him. "Please daddy…"

"Shh-sh-sh." He patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It was just a thought. I'm not planning on going anywhere while the Combine is around. I been fighting them most my life now, and I'm a fool if I'm going to be knocked down before they are." He leaned back onto the couch and closed his eyes. "I'm going to take them down if it's the last thing I do."

"It won't be." Alyx was still uneasy. "You're going to live, on past the Combine, and see those good old days you always talking about. That's what Gordon's here for. You just wait and see, he'll have the Combine mopped up in another day or so, and then we can find some place where we'll be able to live peacefully."

"Oh honey." Eli shook his head blissfully. "You make it sound all so easy. But even with Gordon, its going to take a while to beat the Combine. And after that, there's going to be a lot of work, repairing everything. All that bad they've done... it ain't gonna just go away once they leave. No, nobody's gonna be able to live in peace for a while, and certainly not you. You're a child of war, sweetheart. Peace makes you restless." He sighed. "Me, if I could just get the chance to really punch one of those floating caterpillars, I'd die happy."

"You will." Alyx assured. "You'll get to do that, and much more. You'll get to punch all the Advisors you like, and you'll live to a ripe old age."

Another chuckle broke loose from her father. "Well, if that's the case, I'd like to have some grandchildren in my old age."

"DAD!"

* * *

READ! REVIEW! GIVE FOOD TO MY HUNGRY MUSE!

Another short clip. I get interested in wondering what an outsider like Alyx would think of all these covert conferences Gordon has with her father. I started to write one where she asked him about it, and this came out. Go figure.

Anyway. I'm starting to come to the end of these things, I think maybe two more should do it. They'll actually deal with Episode Three, which of course I don't know about but I'd like to make some guesses. After that I think I'll stop. But if anyone has any new ideas, I'm willing to hear them.


	9. Control

"Dad! DAAD! Don't leave me!"

"I have to go, honey. My time's up." Her father's voice floated all around her in this black world. "But you have to keep on. You need to destroy that ship."

"No! Take me with you!"

"No, you need to keep going, Alyx. The Resistance needs you. D0g needs you. Even Gordon needs you, if he wants to take that ship down."

"Dad…" She choked back a sob.

"Don't worry about me, sweetheart. I'm happy with what I've done, what I've seen." A chuckle echoed in the darkness. "I got to sock an advisor in the face. Never thought I'd get that chance."

"Dad…"

"Sh-sh-shhh. Now listen. You two have no idea of what's coming, or what you'll need. But you need to keep close to Gordon, do you hear me? He'll protect you. But he'll need your help, too. So you need to stick close to him."

"I love you, sweetheart." And the voice faded.

Slowly, Alyx became conscious of the steady _chop-chop_ of helicopter blades. There was a smell of musky leather about her, and the air was cold. She seemed to be slumped in a sitting position. As she opened her eyes, the harsh glare of light on snow pierced her vision, and she winced and sat up. "Ohhh…"

"You're awake." A dry comment came from her right. There was Gordon, seated at the controls, a strangely placid expression on his face.

All her memory came flooding back. "Where's dad?" She asked, sitting up quickly. It was a bad idea and she fell back into the seat, groaning. Gordon didn't answer and she repeated the question.

"Back at the base." Was the short reply. He hesitated, and then said. "Dead."

Alyx closed her eyes. She had known it. Her dream had confirmed it, if nothing else; but still the word fell on her ear like a cold slap in the face. She felt like being angry, and there was no one else to vent it on but Gordon. "I suppose you just took off." She said coldly.

"No." Gordon sounded annoyed. "Barney and some of the others had seen the Advisors coming, they came in right after you fainted. They took your dad back to the facility while the others kept on after the Combine. Didn't get them though." He narrowed his eyes. "There's gotta be a way to kill those things…"

"I mean, took off without letting me say goodbye or anything." Alyx spat at him. "My dad died and you load me on this chopper and clear out before I can even see him?" Alyx knew she was being unfair, but at the moment she didn't care. "Couldn't this trip have waited until I was at least conscious?"

Gordon looked over at her and blinked. "Not really."

"Why? Because of the Borealis? Is that all you think about?"

"If you remember, your father wanted us to get there as soon as possible so we could destroy it." He reminded her.

"Shut up." Alyx folded herself into a tight ball and stared out the window. He was right, but she didn't want to admit it. "Anyway, you're taking it awfully well." She commented bitterly. "I suppose it doesn't make a difference to you, Mr. Famous warrior. You don't feel anything, do you?"

Again, unfair. Again, she didn't care. She needed someone to be mad at, and Gordon was being far too agreeable to fill that role, which just made her angrier. This time, though, he shot a truly annoyed look at her, and for some time did not answer, until Alyx was almost ashamed of herself.

"Not much." He finally replied. "But believe it or not, I do have some things that affect me, and your father's death happens to be one." He focused on the whirling snow ahead of the chopper. "I just don't see the point of sitting around complaining about it."

There didn't seem to be much to say to that, and for a long time they sat in silence. Alyx did not feel like talking and Gordon was apparently absorbed with the controls. At last, though, he sighed and turned to her. "You ever feel you're not in control of your life?"

She blinked and looked at him. "What?"

"You know. Feel like you're not in control. Like it doesn't really matter what you do or don't do, either way, things are going to go in a certain pattern."

A trifle distracted and irritated by the question, Alyx shrugged. "Not really. Anytime Barney gets talking like that I tell him to go out and shoot a few CP's, and then tell himself it doesn't make a difference."

"Yeah, yeah…" Gordon waved the argument off. "But I'm not talking about that. I mean, like, regardless of whether you plan on killing those CP's or not, somehow you're going to."

Alyx shook her head. She really couldn't understand where Gordon had come up with this idea.

"Like, suppose this." He was staring out the front window abstractedly. "Suppose, that, you're standing in front of this warehouse, and you really don't want to go inside. But deep down, you know that sooner or later, you will, whether you want to or not. Or even that, sooner or later, you'll want to."

"Take Black Mesa." Alyx shifted uncomfortably at the name. "Your dad probably told you that I was the one who pushed the crystal into the xenium stream. Theoretically, that means this whole mess is my fault."

"Gordon." Alyx closed her eyes. She did NOT want to hear some guilt trip right now.

"Also theoretically." Gordon continued as if she had not spoken. "I might have refused to push it into the stream, and then all this might not have happened. Or at least it would have happened differently. But that's not the point. The point is, I don't think I had any choice in the matter."

Alyx opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"It was my job, of course." Gordon mused. "So in that sense I never really considered doing anything else. But it was weird… it was like… I knew what the crystal was, I knew where it needed to go, and for some reason, I felt like…it WAS going to go there, regardless of what I wanted. I had the oddest sensation that if I didn't pick it up, the entire universe would have frozen until I did. Which is ridiculous, because they could only keep the xenium stream for a few moments."

Alyx didn't say anything. Gordon seemed to be lost in thought.

"It's like… it's like viewing yourself from the outside." He said finally. "Looking at the world as if it doesn't really concern you, because you're outside it. And everything you do, everything you feel, is almost…"

"Predestined?" Alyx suggested.

"Something like that." Gordon nodded. "But not always. Sometimes it's more arbitrary. You remember that gnome?"

"That thing?" Alyx wrinkled her nose. "You know, you never did tell me what you were carrying it around for."

"Hm. Well see, I didn't know. It was just this weird feeling I had that I had to pick up that gnome and bring it along. And then, when we got to the rocket, I saw the space in the nosecone, and I had this bizarre sensation that it looked just right for him…"

"Wait. Gordon, you didn't…"

"Well… It was just…"

"Gordon! What on earth did you do that for? You could've damaged the resonator or something!"

"The resonator was in the payload chamber, not the nosecone. Plus, it's a particle distortion transmitter, which means that it can't…"

"Gordon!"

The man sighed. "Alyx, I told you, I don't know why I did. I just know I had to. I get this… odd feeling of déjà vu. I know what I'm going to do, and I know how to do it, before it even happens. And it's not even a decision. I just know that, in a few minutes, I will have killed someone. Or, as the case may be, put a gnome in rocket."

Alyx sighed.

"It's just…" Gordon shook his head. "I get this feeling. You know when the combine had us, just floating in mid air like that? It feels like that. If feels like, no matter what, certain things will happen. The Stalkers will be destroyed. I will go into the Citadel. Eli—your dad—will die."

Alyx's eyes flashed fire. "You knew that was going to happen?"

"No." Gordon's voice sounded tired. "Not until we were floating up in the air. But at the same time I knew there wasn't anything I could do. I tried Alyx. I tried. But it didn't do any good, and I knew it wouldn't. It was like watching a movie, or being in a dream. You're paralyzed, and you can only watch things happen around you."

There was another short silence, and then Gordon spoke again. It distantly occurred to Alyx that she had never heard him talk so much at once before. "I'm not sure… whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing. On the one hand, I don't have to worry about doing the right thing, because I will have done whatever I need to do. But on the other hand…"

"You might do things without wanting to?"

Gordon started and looked at her. "It's not like that. It's not a matter of free will versus fate. It's more like they're the same thing. It's like I choose to accept what I'm fated to do."

Alyx frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Hmm." Gordon nodded. "I bet I could even tell you when I first made that choice. Or at least, when I consciously agreed to accept it."

"When?"

Gordon did not answer.

Sensing she wasn't going to get any more out of him, and unable to think of anything more to say, Alyx turned from Gordon and stared aimlessly out the window. What did he mean? Why did he say he could tell her and then say nothing?

Suddenly her brow furrowed. "That's weird." She muttered.

"What is?"

"That guy right… oh never mind, he's gone now." She frowned. How odd. "There was a guy, right on top of that…" She gestured. "…iceberg over there. Just some weird, thin, old guy. Wasn't even wearing snow gear, just some kind of grey suit." She rubbed her chin. "Wonder where he went off to…"

She glanced at Gordon for ideas. The man seemed frozen in horror.

"Oh shit." He muttered.

* * *

**A/N: REVIEW!** Reviews are the reader's power over the writer, the shaping influence behind a true masterwork. They help the author determine what would best be suited for writing about! And I have a couple decisions regarding this story that I need to get through. Read below to find what they are.

This one is... odd. For starters, it's in Episode Three, and I don't know what Episode Three will be like. I would guess, given the helicopter, that it might start out a bit like Opposing Force, but that's just a guess. Alyx should be driving, since I doubt Valve would let you fly a helicopter, but I had Alyx a little too emotional to be up to that. Alyx isn't really very emotional, normally (Neither is Gordon, for that matter.), but I wasn't sure how Eli's death would affect Alyx, so I took a guess. Anyway, I like it better than where she goes all emo vengeance on Combine Advisors.

The main question I have: Someone made the point that I should keep doing this series, but keep it in Episode Two, and not bother with Episode Three. But I like my Episode Three ones, so I'd like to stick them up anyway, and I'm not sure how much more I could post in Episode Two. The current plan I'm thinking of is to post my other Episode Three short sometime later, and then maybe delete them once Episode Three actually comes out. In the meantime, I could post some more snapshots from earlier (if I think of any), and just keep on that way.

Comments, suggestions? REVIEWS, perchance? Throw them at me.


	10. Choices

"GORDON! GORDOOOOON!"

Alyx leapt through the air, the entire compound crashing about her ears. She was a blur of motion, an untouchable stream of movement that wove through the maze of clanging metal. Explosions rocked the floor, and steam shot from the pipes.

Gordon. Where was Gordon?

She had done her part. She had connected the wiring and rigged the control panel while Gordon went off to deal with the big… THING they had seen. The teleporter had to be shut off, and the power had to be eliminated. Nothing could be left on the Borealis, the whole thing had to go up in flames.

Well, it was. And Gordon was going up inside it, somewhere. He and Alyx had agreed on a rendezvous point far outside the ship, but Alyx had called ahead and none of the rebels had seen him.

He was inside. Alyx knew this. Somehow he had been trapped. Perhaps a fallen beam, or some kind of Xen material…

There! There he was! Through the shimmering wave of heat she could see the tall form of the HEV suit, standing calmly amidst the…

Wait. Standing? Calmly?

Indeed he was. And not only that, but doing so apparently without any concern for the enormous hunks of metal that were crashing about him. Two wire frame glasses squinted inquisitively at his fiery surroundings. He seemed to be studying the way explosions affected the whirling portal before him.

That man. Infuriating.

"Gordon!" She screamed as she ran up to him.

He turned, and his eyes widened just slightly. "You…" His eyebrow arched upward. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at the rendezvous point."

"Yeah! So are you!" Alyx screamed. "What are you still doing here? It's time to go, Gordon! C'mon, you need to get out of here!"

"Me?" He looked at her quizzicly. "Why would I… Oh, right… The whole explosion thing." He glanced about. "Ah, I should be fine. Now go." He waved. "Go on, shoo. Time to leave. This place is about to explode, you should be a good distance away by that time. It's not…" An explosion rocked the hull and he stumbled a little. "…it's not exactly safe here."

Alyx stared at him. Was the man mad?

"Move it." A trace of fear moved into Gordon's expression. "You need to clear the blast radius by the time the countdown…"

"Are you TRYING to die?" Alyx screamed.

Gordon eyed her. "Well, not actively, no. You, on the other hand…"

"You need to leave!"

"Hmmm?" Gordon ducked as a new explosion sent debris whizzing past his head. "Oh no, no. See, the portal is still open. Someone has to stay here and make sure nothing else comes out. Makes sense, right?"

Alyx's brain flew through this information and came to a decision. "Well… I'll stay then! Now you get out of here!"

"What are you, suicidal?"

"NOW, Gordon!"

"Don't be ridiculous." His eyes were getting more and more nervous. Distantly it occurred to her that this was the first time she had ever really seen him scared. "The Resistance will need a new figurehead, now your father's dead."

"They already do! You!"

"Well, perhaps, but see, I'm staying here." He calmly indicated the portal. "And obviously one of us needs to survive, so if I were you, I'd start running. Maybe use that weird white gun we found in the one…"

"Gordon!" She screamed. "You! Leave! Now!"

"After you." There lay a definite sense of urgency in those eyes. "Please."

"No! I'm not losing you too! Now I order you…"

"Your father didn't die so you could follow him." Gordon glared at her. "Go."

"Same for you." She shot back. "I'm not leaving."

An explosion rocked the floor, and Alyx stumbled slightly. Gordon nearly fell over, but he regained his balance. He studied the walls, his brow furrowed. "Those cracks…" He turned on her, and the anxiety was clear in his face. "Run! The walls are thick, might shield you from the…"

"After you." She gritted through her teeth.

"We don't have time for this." He glared at her. "Look, there is obviously no reason for you to be staying here, and I'm…"

"Not Leaving." She glared right back at him. Standing stock still, they stared each other down, eyes locked in a battle of wills. Fire exploded from the teleporter, and sparks showered down around them.

Gordon drew a breath. "You…" He uttered, in an enraged tone that Alyx had never heard him use, "You are the most infuriating…"

The teleporter erupted in an absolute fanfare of explosions.

Instinctively, Alyx ducked forward, and instinctively, Gordon ducked over to shield her…

And the world erupted in white.

...

...

...

...

But to Alyx's surprise, it did not hurt. She could feel nothing, hear nothing, do nothing… it was as if time itself had frozen still. In fact, the only thing she COULD do was stare at the strange, gaunt man who came walking toward her and Gordon out of the explosion.

"Misss…. Vance. I have a…. proposition… for you."

* * *

**A/N:** REVIEW! Freinds, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your reviews. Give me your poor, your weary, your huddled criticisms yearning to break free... Ah, you get the idea. Please review.

I finally updated this thing. I think I'm going to call it quits for now... maybe after Episode III comes out I might open this up and add some stuff, but for right now this is it. In case it wasn't obvious, part of what gave me the idea for this series was Gordon's many interactions with the G-Man, and what it must seem to the other characters in the game. Alyx especially. Continuing in this vein, my idea for the end of Ep3 has Alyx getting the same choice Gordon did. Wouldn't that be kinda cool? Yeah. Which is probably why it won't happen. But I can dream.

Anyway. For the moment this is quits, though if I get any good ideas I might keep on.


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